


A Very Happy Keith

by Persepinecone



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: M/M, Multi, Poly Relationship, i combined like three headcanons from tumblr into this so woop, im honestly so excited to share this with everyone, in honor of keiths birthday, kinda sad, love my boys
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-24
Updated: 2017-10-24
Packaged: 2019-01-22 03:50:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,185
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12472828
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Persepinecone/pseuds/Persepinecone
Summary: Matt knew Keith before he reunited with Pidge, and they know each other pretty well ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) though Lance isn't very happy about it ;)





	A Very Happy Keith

**Author's Note:**

> I made this for keith's birthday because he is amazing and deserves all the love and affection and happiness in the world and after season people need to start realizing his issues mentally because leaving voltron??? not okay???? that was like his only family????? why is only like .17% of the fandom talking about this???????? sorry ill stop ranting

The paladins, Coran and Matt were waiting in the control room for the arrival of everyone’s favorite Blade of Marmora member, Keith. Coran, Allura, and Shiro seemed to be engulfed in a serious conversation, presumably surrounding battle strategy or something. On the other side of the room, Hunk and the Holts were having an in-depth talk about the mechanics of the ship while Lance sat alone and watched the door and thought. Since Keith left he really noticed how much the two hung out. He didn’t see himself as smart enough to jump into Hunk’s conversation, and the political-ness of the other three sort of intimidated him; it was too serious, and he didn’t think he had anything helpful to add. Normally he just sat around with Keith playfully banting back and forth. Now that Keith spent so much time with the Blades, Lance really had nobody to talk to. The former blue paladin had just found a very interesting ceiling tile to stare at when the door opened and seconds later Matt Holt was bolting to who stood there; Voltron’s very own Keith.  
Matt hugged him immediately, and to everyone’s surprise, Keith was only surprised for about a second. The embrace didn’t last long before Lance surprised Pidge and interrupted.  
“Woah, whoa, whoa, what’s with the love-fest here?” his voice was bouncing from high to low, but not cracking, and his expression was unintelligible. “Did you two date in high school or something?” He had jumped up from his chair and was now standing in front of the two with crossed arms.  
“Since when are you so defensive about me, Lance? You’re the only one allowed to call me an ‘emo-loner’?” Keith put air quotes around the last two words and after he was done, he shot Pidge a glance, but then his face relaxed as Matt began to speak.  
“We were stationed on this one planet together for a while, but there wasn’t much happening. I wasn’t too far up on the rebel officer charts, and he was new to the Blades. Both of our squads were there gathering data. We started talking and he was really cool and for the entire time we were stationed there, we worked together on what little work we had. I guess we got so wrapped up in everything, we didn’t really remember to ask each other’s names. By the time the Blades had to go, I barely got in a goodbye,” Matt explained. Keith blushed (and continued to blush) when Matt called him “really cool”, and he smiled the entire time. Matt turned back to Keith and put each of his hands on the boy’s shoulders. “I’m so glad you’re okay! We’ve worked with the Blades a couple times after that, I was worried something happened to you,” he said, a light pink crawling across his cheeks. It was so light, only Lance and Keith were really able to notice it. Lance’s eyes narrowed and narrowed, to the point he was nearly squinting at the rebel officer.  
Keith laughed, “Me? I’m fine! What about you? You’re constantly in the line of fire from what I hear,” he adds with a smile.  
“Oh, I’ve gotten by. I’m a pretty great fighter, right?” Matt did the unthinkable. He whipped out the finger guns. Right. In. Front. Of. Lance. How could he? The monster. Lance didn’t even understand why he was so jealous. Probably something about wanting to be friends with Keith but only having that weird rivalry-thing, but eh, who needs reasoning when anger is bubbling up inside you and you have a perfect target?  
“Alright, alright! Let’s break this barf-fest up before that title gets a little too accurate. Keith, why don’t you go talk to Allura about the Blades’s intel? Or Pidge and Hunk about the tech? We don’t need to see any more of the Mullet-Tree reunion than we already have,” Lance said, obviously irritated and red-faced.  
“Tree?” Keith asked.  
“Lance started calling Matt ‘Tree’ because he’s taller than him and Lance hates it,” Pidge answers, not looking up from the paper of notes and sketches on the table.  
“I do not! I couldn’t care less who’s taller than who!” he didn’t mean to, but he was yelling. “Whatever!” he said, and walked out of the room.

~~~~~Control Room, after Lance’s blow-up~~~~~

“What the hell was that about?” Keith asked, curiosity embedded into his tone. Hunk and Pidge gave each other knowing looks before answering.  
“No clue. Why don’t you two do a bit of catching up?” Hunk replied.  
“Sounds great,” said Keith, and he and Matt stood against the wall talking. Pidge and Hunk turned back to each other and pretended to be pointing at stuff on the paper.  
“Why is Lance getting so possessive of Keith?” Pidge asked, hoping Hunk would be able to tell from knowing him longer.  
“I’m not sure. Maybe Lance was having a bad day?” Hunk answered.  
“I don’t think so, he’s been fine up until now. What could it be?”  
“Maybe Lance wanted to be friends with Matt first?”  
“Maybe,” Hunk thought for a second. “Oh. My. God. How did we not see it before?”  
“What? What am I missing?”  
“Lance totally likes Keith!” Hunk whisper-yelled so as not to announce it to the whole room.  
“Oh my god, you’re right! Oooooh, Lance is jeaaalous!” Pidge exclaimed in glee.  
“You don’t think…” Hunk trailed off and nodded towards Matt and Keith.  
“Matt never really talked about his sexuality, but it’s a possibility. Maybe they’re just crushing on each other? I wonder how Keith feels.”

~~~~~Control room after Lance’s blow-up, Keith’s pov~~~~~

What the fuck was that? Lance hates me, why would he care if I was friends with Matt? Does he really need to be first that much? From the beginning, Lance has expressed that he doesn’t like me all that much. Our bickering has lost most of its venom recently, but apparently that’s over? I keep talking to Matt, but now my mind is preoccupied.  
“You okay?” Matt asks. He notices everything, this guy.  
“I don’t know, I just never expected Lance to react like that. Actually, I didn’t expect him to react at all,” I say, still wondering why the hell he cared so much.  
“Maybe he’s jealous,” Matt says and lifts his eyebrows. He’s so fucking flirty, I swear. I’m starting to think that he’s got me under some sort of charm spell. Maybe that’s why I like him so much. Maybe that’s why I kissed him before I left that planet with the Blades.

~~~~~Lance’s room, just after he blew up, Lance’s pov~~~~~

What the fuck, Lance? Why am I so jealous of Keith and Matt? Why the hell was it so easy for Matt to make friends with Keith? This is so annoying, and I can totally tell something happened between them. They might not say it did, but it did. Honestly though, I have no intention of even thinking of what they did, or where they did it, or ugh. The whole thing makes this knot in my stomach tighten. It’s like jealousy, anger and confusion had a baby and it’s decided I’m it’s host. And I still don’t even get why I’m jealous! I mean why the hell do I care what Matt and Keith did on that planet who-knows-how-long ago? Yeah, I guess Keith’s pretty hot, and I miss him a lot, and I really like the way he smiles, and- shit. I just figured out why I’m jealous of whatever Matt and Keith did on that planet who-knows-how-long ago.

~~~~~The next morning, third-person~~~~~

Lance didn’t leave his room after he blew up in the control room. He skipped dinner, and he took off his headphones when everyone was going to their rooms. He heard Pidge’s socks sliding across the floor to her room, but after he heard What? No, you’re not sleeping on the couch. You can stay in my room, in that low, melodic voice, he put his headphones back on so fast and violently that he hurt his ear and scraped his arm on the table. He blasted music until he fell asleep somewhere around three in the morning with confused tears dried on his tanned, freckled cheeks.  
Nobody knew whether they’d see Lance at the breakfast table due to his absence the night before, but he came out of his room, sluggish and emotional as he was. Nobody made any comments, and Matt saved them all and awkwardly silent meal by telling this anecdote from when he went to a planet that ran on emotions.  
“It was really fascinating. Actually, I think we’re near it now. Maybe we could stop by?” he pointed his question toward the princess, who shrugged.  
“I don’t see why not,” she punctuated her statement with a beaming smile, though it seemed almost forced. Lance didn’t look up from his bowl the entire time. His shoulders were slumped, his hair flopped into his eyes and he stopped bothering to fix it, and they all assumed he’d stayed up late last night.

~~~~~breakfast table, Keith’s pov~~~~~

I listen to Matt’s story, but I’m honestly worried about Lance. He’s slumped over his food and he looks pretty miserable. His animation is gone, and he doesn’t make a sound all morning. Maybe he just didn’t get enough sleep last night. That’s got to be it. That’s probably it. Maybe? Ugh, why am I so worried about him anyway? It’s not like he’d care if I was like that. Hell, he’d probably make some comment about me being “emo”. I know I really shouldn’t care right now, but I do. Maybe it’s because he can be so charming when he’s not being a complete ass. What is it with me and guys with charm? I mean, he’s pretty good looking, now that I think about it. He’s smart but he hides it, he cares about the team, hell, he was about to give up his lion for me. Wow. He’s actually a pretty decent- no- damn good guy. But I’m… wait, what are Matt and I? Are we dating? We should hide it anyway if we are, but… I don’t know. He seems to still like me, but we didn’t exactly get each other promise rings.

~~~~~breakfast table, lance’s pov~~~~~

I don’t want to talk to anyone. I just want to be left alone and then to go to my room and be more alone. I feel like shit. I guess my posture conveys my wish for solitude, however, because nobody’s said a word to me yet. Or maybe it’s because they’re scared I’ll yell at them like yesterday. Wow, I really fucked up this time. I hear the others agree to go to some planet Matt was talking about today. Why must the universe curse me like this? Why am I never allowed to slip into a spiral of depression and self-loathing until it’s over? Why can I never just give in? I want to hate Matt right now. I want to hate him so much, but I can’t. He’s Pidge’s brother, he’s Keith’s boyfriend(?), and he’s an amazing rebel officer. He’s a valuable part of Team Voltron and everything else. If only I had someone to hate right now. An extra, a replacement, someone who’s not of help to anyone who’s only skill isn’t even that rare or great. Oh, wait.

~~~~~Later in the day, third person~~~~~

The team was heading toward Matt’s emotion-planet, and they were only a few dobashes from landing. Lance stood against the wall with his arms crossed and one foot against it as well. His gaze was fixed on the very intriguing floor in front of him. Keith stood next to Matt, wondering whether he should ask what they were. The rest of the team was involved in conversation, and it seemed pretty safe to talk about it.  
“Um, hey Matt?” Keith began, cursing his social awkwardness.  
“Yeah, Keith?” Matt turned to face Keith with a pleasant smile.  
“Um, I was just kind of wondering, what are we?”  
“Well, what do you mean? We, in general, are humans. For a less douche-y answer, we can be what you want. I’m still interested, and if you are I’m all for it.”  
“I’m still interested, it’s just… I’m not sure. I’ve never dated a guy before and I don’t know if I’m ready. But, I also still really like you and want to not just be friends with you. But…” Keith cut himself off. He was so used to being able to tell Matt everything. He didn’t want to cause an issue by saying he also might like Lance, though, so he shut his mouth.  
“Well, we can still do couple-y things and not classify ourselves as a ‘couple’. We can sit really close together, I can spend the night in your room,” here, Matt lifted his eyebrows and winked, causing Keith to burst into laughter. “And we can do any of this as publicly or as privately as you want.”  
“That sounds amazing. Thank you,” Keith said, and fought the urge to kiss Matt again. They had thought the rest of the team was occupied, and they had kept their voices down, but there was one certain paladin who had heard it all. One who was fighting back tears harder than he ever had before. One who was leaning against the wall with his foot against it, and with his arms crossed.

~~~~~On the planet, third person~~~~~

“And this is the most important part of our planet. These are in many spots all over, but this one is the biggest, and it supplies the most energy. Since we are the natives to this planet, we can naturally transfer our emotions into the planet’s energy. To give it extra power, we can place our hand on this platform, and from there the planet will disperse the energy all over,” the guide said. He then demonstrated this by placing his small hand on the grey platform. After a second, the platform glowed orange, and then with every second that passed, something new glowed. A large panel on the wall, wires running everywhere, even handheld devices glowed a faint orange hue. “Would one of you like to try?” All hands went up among the group, even Lance’s. He had on a fake smile, and his arm was only half raised, yet the guide still picked him out of the rest. He walked up to the platform, and placed his shaky hand on it. Almost instantaneously, everything lit up an intense and vibrant blue. Keith realized it matched Lance’s eyes perfectly, though he wouldn’t dare say that out loud.  
“Wow, Lance! You must be really happy to make this much power!” Hunk said, excited to see his friend supposedly out of his funk. The expressions of the natives however, did not match Hunk’s assumption at all. Each one of their faces was flooded with horror and sadness as they looked at one another. Lance took his hand off the platform and rubbed it slightly. He started inching backwards as slowly as he could to stop himself from running. Their guide was the first native to speak up from the under-their-breath whispers.  
“This… this is not the colour of happiness. This is the colour of great sadness.”

~~~~~Afterwards, Third person~~~~~

Lance had bolted from the room and gone the lion he had flown here, and he only realized it was red when he was in the pilot’s chair hugging his knees to his chest. He didn’t have the energy to get up and leave, so he just sat and cried harder. After looking at the others, Keith ran after him. Matt moved to follow, but Allura stopped him.  
“This is something they have to do.”

~~~~~The red lion, third person~~~~~

Lance heard footsteps coming up behind him and decided to pause his sobs to speak. “Go away, Shiro, I’m not in the mood for your fatherly ‘I’m here for you’ bullshit.” Keith cleared his throat and Lance’s head shot up from its perch on his knees.  
“I’m… It’s not Shiro,” was all he could think to say. He really was never that good with words. He walked over in front of the pilot seat and crouched so his head was just below Lance’s. Keith gulped, because he honestly had no idea what he was doing. He hooked his right index finger under Lance’s chin and but his thumb on it, lifting Lance’s head up from its downward glance to meet his eyes. His touches were feathers and his eyes were the sky, and Lance just wanted Keith to fly him away. Lance’s sobs continued, though he tried to mute them by shutting his mouth.  
“What’s up with you lately?” Keith’s voice was a gentle whisper that Lance wished he could put on repeat like his favorite song. “You’ve been depressed, and I just can’t figure out why. Like, why would someone so cool and happy have a reason to be so sad on the inside? I just don’t understand.” Keith cocked his head to the side like a curious puppy, and his hair fell into his eyes as if it were his floppy ears.  
“Well, I’m not depressed, I have depression. Sometimes I feel really numb, and sometimes I feel a lot. Like too much. It’s like even if it’s a good feeling, it becomes violent. And I… there’s a lot going on right now. And I didn’t know you thought I was cool,” Lance answered, sadness still swimming in his ocean blue eyes. “Why do you even care about me? You should be having the rest of the tour like everyone else.”  
“I’m so sorry. I had no idea about your depression. And of course I think you’re cool. You’re our badass ninja sharpshooter. Why couldn’t you be cool?” Keith paused to let Lance make a forcibly exhaled breath that seemed like a laugh. “I care about you because you’re important and nobody should have to feel like this alone.” Keith lifted Lance’s face once more because he had become fixated with the floor again. That damn interesting floor. “And whatever’s going on right now seems to have to do with me, so why not throw me in the loop that you seem to have with yourself?”  
“I… I…” Lance couldn’t finish. He just cried for a couple ticks. Keith put his arms awkwardly around Lance in the chair and leaned his head on Lance’s right knee. Lance practically fell out of the chair and sat next to Keith on the floor. After the maneuvering, Keith’s left arm was around Lance’s shoulders and his right arm was around him too. Lance clung to Keith’s arm like it was a lifeline and put his head on Keith’s shoulder as they leaned against the wall. Lance was still weeping, but felt less alone. After a while he calmed down enough to speak, even though sobs entered between his words.  
“I… I heard you and Matt talking before we got to the planet.”

~~~~~The Red Lion, Bonding Moment Pt. 2, Keith’s pov~~~~~

Why would he care? Why, why, why? Because he doesn’t like me. He can’t like me. Maybe he likes Matt? Maybe? But, no. Lance is all about the ladies. Right? Right?? Oh god, he likes me? He can’t! No way! What is happening? All I can choke out is “O-oh.” Lance, thank god, keeps speaking so I don’t have to.  
“I just… I had no idea until I got all jealous of you and Matt. I thought maybe it was because I just wanted to be your friend and I was upset because of how quickly Matt did it, but then I realized that I really really like everything you do. Your way of leading Voltron, that little smirk you do, your voice, and I’m just kind of struggling because I’m pretty sure I’ve liked you since the Garrison, but I just thought I was jealous of you and now I feel scared because I just accidentally told you that I like you like that and now shit’s going to be weird between us an-“ I cut him off with a kiss. What the hell? I’m kissing Lance McLain. What. The. Fuck. What about Matt? I can’t really think about anything but Lance right now. It’s like the rest of the world slips away, logic and morals along with it. I just wanted to stop him from being scared and rambling, but it’s been about thirty seconds and my hand’s on the side of his face and shit I forgot to take a breath before I kissed him. It seems like catching him off guard was good, though, because just as I think I might pass out he breaks it and we’re both heaving.  
“I… really like you, too. But, I’ve got this thing going with Matt. And I really like him, too.” I lean back against the wall and put my head in my hands. “I wish I could just… date you both or something. Life would be so much easier, and I would be so much happier.”  
“Well… why can’t you?” Lance asks. As I turn to face him in surprise and a little bit of confusion, I hear what I hoped I wouldn’t have to hear until Lance and I came out of the red lion; the educated semi-high voice of my mystery kiss.  
“Why can’t he what?”

~~~~~The red lion, third person~~~~~

Every heart was thumping and every mind was running inside the red lion.  
“I don’t know how to explain this without sounding like a horrible person,” Keith said, hugging his knees to his chest against the wall. Matt walked over and offered a hand to Keith and, to his surprise, Lance. The two glanced at each other and took their respective hands, and they stood. Lance’s eyes and face were still puffy, and his tanned skin had a tint of red to it. Keith looked on the verge of tears and like he was about to collapse into someone’s arms, but couldn’t decide who’s arms to fall into. He decided, instead, to lean against the wall for support.  
“Go ahead and say what you need to. I know you’re not a horrible person, so it doesn’t matter what you think I’ll think of you. I know what I think of you, and there isn’t much in this universe to change that,” Matt said gently. I swear, he’s the only person in the world (besides maybe Lance) who could say something like that and not sound like the cheesiest asshole on the planet, Keith thought, and prepared himself to get dumped by someone he wasn’t even dating.  
“Matt, I really really like you. But, I also really really like Lance. And you both somehow magically like me, too, and I’m really confused and upset because if I could have it my way I’d be able to date you both, but I can’t and everything sucks because now it’s going to be really awkward and shitty with one of you no matter what happens right now,” Keith explained. He felt like that was such a release, he was exhausted. He leaned his entire body against the wall now, and just stared at the ceiling.  
“Well, Lance is right if that’s where his dialogue comes in. Why can’t you date us both? I’m okay with sharing, if everyone else is,” Matt said. He was so calm and collected, Keith and Lance stared at him. It’s like they’d never seen anyone who wasn’t an emotional mess before.  
“How does that even work? Are we all dating? Are you just each dating me? What?” Keith asked, clearly confused.  
“It’s called polyamory, and polysexuality if you end up doin’ the do,” Lance said, and raised his eyebrows. Keith was so happy Lance had just did something funny. He hadn’t laughed because of Lance in a while, and he missed it desperately. “And it depends on us about who dates who. If Matt and I only want to date you and not each other, that’s fine. If we decide we want to date each other as well, that’s also fine. It’s a pretty cool concept and it’s even cooler than we all seem to be cool with it.”  
“Exactly. So, I guess we’re both dating Keith now, do you want to wait until we get to the bridge of ‘us’ to cross it? Or at least tomorrow? It seems like today has been a lot,” Matt said to Lance.  
“Definitely. Should we join the others now that we’re all less angsty, depressed, and confused?” Lance gestured first to Keith, then himself, and finally to Matt. The three laughed and moved towards the door. Keith walked in between the other boys, and each of their arms was around his waist. Keith was in awe of how amazing the day had been. They joined the group outside the lion, and nobody asked any questions, though they knew they would be interrogated soon. Frankly, however, they didn’t really care.


End file.
